How to lose weight!

This is a realistic guide to natural healthy weight loss. No magic pills, powders or potions, or equipment to buy. Consult your doctor before any major exercises or dietary changes.

I wrote this guide because I was raised with this knowledge, yet I rebelled. I ate the wrong foods and did not exercise much at all. This lead me to weighing 185 lbs and my cholesterol was around 220. After the cholesterol test I woke up. I realized that, at 30 years old, I was in really bad shape. My blood pressure was way too high and I felt lethargic. So I fell back on the knowledge imparted to me as a child, and changed my lifestyle. Now I am 33, my cholesterol is around 160, my diastolic blood pressure is around 55, and I weigh 153. I lift weights and exercise daily, and I eat right. I have no washboard abs, my muscles are not huge and bulging, and it did not cure me of anything genetic, but after my last physical, my doctor said he did not want to see me for 2 years. I wrote this guide so that everyone will be able to have good health, when they are ready.

3-8-08
*SPECIAL UPDATE*
Thank you EVERYONE for all your input!
As it stands 2 years after I wrote this, I am now 34 (35 very soon) and I am down to 135 LBS. I will share my current diet and exercise routine with you now, however I am not recommending anything beyond what you I have written in this instructable. My diet is very disciplined, please make sure you get the correct nutrition for you!
Diet and exercise 5 days a week:
I take a generic vitamin supplement in the morning with fish oil and calcium.
Monday Wednesday and Friday:
Morning meal: "Natural Nutrition" Brown Rice cereal with soy milk (2 servings, 1 bowl)
Weight lifting, 500 crunches, cardio, 500 more crunches, and back to weight lifting to complete sets and reps (about an hour)
Morning meal #2 6 Egg whites *COOKED* and seasoned (always with plenty of water during the workout, before, and after)
Tuesday and Thursday
Same morning meal #1
Stretching and lighter weights, 500 crunches same cardio, 500 crunches again
Same morning meal #2

Afternoon: before lunch, about 4 SMALL V8s (the 30 calorie each little ones)
Lunch: 3/4th LB mixed vegetables and 6 more eggs and a can of orange juice unsweetened (200 calories)

After lunch:
another few V8s

Diner: 2 skinned chicken thighs 1/2 LB vegetables, salad, or ground turkey (a million ways to prep any of this) instead of the chicken.

***12-19-08 Update:
Thank you all for your continued support of this instructible. Let's do something new for the new year! Post your weight loss every 6 months that you use this instructable. Be honest, and let's inspire others to stick to it, show us your results!

I am constantly updating this instructable based on your comments and new information,check back often.

Step 1 Consult your doctor!

As this will no doubt be a lifestyle change, your doctor should be informed and aware. This is IMPORTANT.

Comments

[admin]

Hey, this is a great instructable and is very informative. Just one thing is missing... pictures! It really helps a lot when trying to follow directions so you should consider taking some photographs. Once you do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work. Thanks! Thanks for the cool instructable and we hope to publish this soon!

[loganh09]

Kind of a post that's been here for a while, but a good idea for weights at home hit me the other day. Everyone has a backpack... and everyone has books. Add the two together and you have a free (well... granted you have both), adjustable weight.

[Pierce777]

Organic foods are not just about pesticides... Organic foods are about the quality of the food produced... A lot of the vitamins and minerals in fruits, vegetables, or dairy products develop over time... A lot of non-organic food is forced to mature more quickly than it would naturally and is not as good for you body... Tomatoes, for example, may be gas ripened so that they appear red and tasty before they are actually fully ripe and the best for your body, and a lot of cows and chickens are given growth hormones so that they produce more eggs or milk more quickly than they would normally... I think you may have judged organic foods a little too quickly... There have also been many behavioral studies in people with ADD or ADHD or violent behavioral tendencies who were switched to organic diets and saw complete recovery once these "harmless" chemicals and additives were removed from their diets... Organic food does not have to be a giant cost if you get it at the right places... maybe you should give it another try... A big part of having a healthy body is putting good food into your body and giving your body food that it will be able to get a lot out of, not just calories...

[froSTed]

Pierce777, Thank you for your opinion. This instructable deals with facts. I do not believe that any scientific studies have evidenced pesticides, in the quantity ingested after eating foods that have been sprayed, are dangerous to humans. The "organic" debate is a good one, however, this instructable is about weight loss and general health, not religious belief. Thanks.

[thefoodman]

I'm ten years old five feet tall and weigh 120 pounds am I overweight

[Breweren]

Actually what's recommended for daily exercise is 30 minutes of moderate activity. But this is also assuming that you walk 10,000 steps a day.

[fatboy106]

i am 14 and i weigh 195lbs

[zascecs]

All robots of my kind weigh exactly 82.33 pounds.

[bowhunterhall]

mustard has no calories. great instructible by the way.

[mallyon]

Thank You Very Much froSTed. This Instructable opened up a new door for me! This is a great instructable!

[mallyon]

thank you very much froSTed. This is a great instructable!!

[Jesus10555]

I'd say, if you can make yourself not bored, then you should have no problems with cravings lol. when I'm bored, I just want to eat.

[RaynoGernsback]

Yeah! That's actually a huge part of it! I'm a student, and keep reasonably active (i cycle everywhere, play rugby and try to make it to the gym every week or two in the close season), but find my weight fluctuates through the year. In the winter/spring, I weigh around half a stone less than I do in the summer. I'm not getting less exercise- i'm training less but cycling, swimming and working out more- but it's purely down to boredom! In the winter, between classes, part-time work, training and my social life, I'm lucky if I can find a couple of hours a day when i'm not meant to be doing something. In the early summer, the season closes, I'm revising for final exams and then, after that, I'm just relaxing and enjoying the sun. All that lazing around makes it so much easier to "grab another" of whatever it is i'm eating or have eaten. I guess I just need a displacement activity. Smoking? (jokes!)

[botmaster 10]

Yeah, but I eat butter toast because I eat sudden cravings

[az76107]

i have that same problem. i find that most of the time i can use the net to avoid boredom. plus, i usually learn at the same time.

[Modernbenoni]

I do that too, really annoying XD

[froSTed]

Eat enough real food and you will be just fine.

[coolmccool98]

(removed by author or community request)

[froSTed]

Please refrain from advertising websites on this instructable. I consider it spam.

[sharkilepsy]

you eat 84 eggs a week...no wonder you have to exercise 60 min a day. EIGHTY-FOUR EGGS IN 1 WEEK! do yourself a favor and read "eat to live" by joel fuhrman.

[demolsher502]

Your weight is a major factor in the amount of calories you should consume in a day. If you consume too little, it could be very dangerous for you, however, to lose weight you must consume a lesser amount of calories. Talk to a doctor or professional to find out a good calorie intake count.

[froSTed]

Please read step #1 demolosher502.

[Rayzorblade]

Thats a really good instructable. I like what you are saying, and then started thinking about it... i am looking at this and snacking on jelly beans... man thats bad for me, i get tons of exercise, but i am 6' feet 200 lbs. im going to try this thing out, thanks man =)

[-Aj-]

dietary supplementation is a must these days. the nutrition levels in vegetables and fruit have dropped by a factor of 100 over the past 50 yrs. which is why they say you need 10 serves of fruit and veg a day, 50 yrs ago you would have only needed acouple peices of fruit and your vegies at dinner and you would be sweet. my daily food diet would look like this. brekky 12 weetbix w/ light milk (dont need full cream) double X, fruit and veg, omega 3 complex. lunch whole grain rolls with peanut butter or something. dinner a couple soy burger things ( i checked these out, so not processed garbage ones) double x, fruit and veg, omega 3. and plenty of water throughout day, filtered, and i mean good filtered (NOT britta filter, thats like trying to filter your water with a chain link fence) lol. pretty much rpt. if you noticed, no meat. i dont eat it, havent since i was like 2. family does but i just dont. seem to do pretty well and feel awesome. (if i get some half decent sleep at night lol) then go for a run when i feel like it, couple km. maybe 14 or so. do some calisthenics. is sweet. you dont even have to bust your ass to loose weight... seriously. eat properly, supplement, and stay active. and you WILL loose weight. also, you will find many small meals throughout day is better than 3 big ones. so snacking is a good thing! just NOT ON GARBAGE! your meals should decrease in size throughout the day. most people have a large dinner. and what do you do after dinner? go to bed, sleep. All that energy is not used and get converted to energy and fat. your body doesnt want to keep extra weight if it has it. all you have to do is use more energy than you consume and you will loose weight. so being active is very good, and cut WAAY down on carbs, eg chocolate, sweets, cookies. all of that stuff. its ok to eat this stuff if youve got a high metabolism, because i could without putting on anything. (i dont though) but inactive people do not. however by being more active your body will automatically increase it which will also help you. double X, fruit and veg, omega 3 complex. are my supplements. im lucky enough to have a friend who showed me them cause theyre the best in the world, pretty much compressed plant nutrients. well Asafa Powell takes them, so if an Olympic athlete does they must be good right? haha hey, it all works for me

[froSTed]

Supplements are not real food.
Please do not substitute real food for supplements. They are NOT FDA approved and can cause adverse effects when abused. Get your nutrition from food as much as you can and PLEASE CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE TAKING SUPPLEMENTS!!

[jaysbob]

where exactly do you get your information from? supplements are good for little more than creating expensive colorful pee. Most vitamins and minerals your body can't store and so it dumps what it can't use. A tomato is a tomato.

[froSTed]

I have a very poor view of the supplement market. With that said, some vitamins are not turned into waste, rather it does store them in different forms, vitamins A, D, E and K are stored as fat when not used. This does not mean that you should avoid them.

[-Aj-]

no no, i dont think you understand. most of the brands of supplements that everyone is exposed to are synthetic, that is they go. "hmm oranges have lots of vitamin C in them therefore it must be the vitamin C that is the good bit, hey we can make it in our labs!" so they make ascorbic acid and then put that into tablets, completely forgetting all the phytonutrients and other things in the orange that are also beneficial. Infact, most suppliments can actually be HARMFULL to you because they do not have all the other nutrients in them that is needed because they are synthesized. As such, your body cannot use them properly and most of it just ends up in your urine. Now, the suppliments I take are "whole plant" suppliments, in other words they take the entire plant / plants and first remove the fiber, then remove the water. and what is left is ALL the nutrients that the plant contained. They then put all of these into a tablet. From the harvesting of the plants to creating tablets all happens within a matter of hours as they know that the nutrient levels degrade from the moment your pick the fruit. please go and research Nutriway, and their parent company Nutrilite and you will understand what i know then. i am not a member of this company or anything, i am just a customer and they freaking rule :P . so go look please, i think you will be quite surprised.

[froSTed]

For the record, ascorbic acid IS vitamin C.
See the history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C

Please refrain from advertising weight loss supplements here. This instructable is intended to be free without promotion of products, just good health.

[-Aj-]

i know vitamin c is ascorbic acid. i thought i said that? im not advertising anything am i? oh i see i mentioned a company name, well im not advertising weight loss products or magic pills or anything, just said it might be beneficial for you to have a look. anyway ill not continue this any more as its starting to drift away from the actual point of this instructable, to loose weight (if you need to, ofcourse ;-) )

[=spider=]

I do agree that exercise is very important to weight loss, but I think 90 minutes a day is quite unreasonable. Who has this much time? Weight loss can be achieved with not so much exercise, without needing such a gradual build up of exercise. Other than that it's quite a good guide. I guess the only thing I'd add for people is to make it fun. And like you say, it doesn't have to be at a gym. Bringing it home makes it more likely to be done and for you to have no excuses. In fact, even having little weights at work, or if you have you're own office with enough space, your own equipment, will give you opportunities to work out during the day when usually people are sedentary, which might make even the 90 mins a day goal more realistic.

[froSTed]

Please finish reading step 5. If you are not putting in the time, you will not get the results. This is about health.

[simonnomis]

(removed by author or community request)

[froSTed]

Caffeine may act as an appetite suppressant short term, however people see loss from it's diuretic effect. You lose water weight. It's easy to find a quick fix like this, but it's no shortcut for lasting health. Please refrain from advertising weight loss supplements here. This instructable is intended to be free without promotion of products, just good health.

[cloaked woodsman]

Yeah, so does cocaine. That doesn't mean it's healthy. Caffeine is a drug. What you suggest is essentially altering your brain chemistry, and I would contend it is poses the same danger as harder drugs like cocaine and amphetamines. If you want to do drugs for some other reason, that's a different story, but don't do drugs to lose weight. It's not sustainable, it's habit-forming, and it's horrible for your body.

[cloaked woodsman]

There is a lot of really good information in this instructable, and no shortcuts. Basically it boils down to sacking up, eating right, and busting your ass if you want to stay healthy. Unfortunately, that's the last thing that most people looking to lose weight want to hear. Someone else commented on the importance of drinking lots of water as well, and I have to second that.

[metrometro]

You may want to add that a social element is really, really helpful to any exercise program. Running around a lonely track can be hard, and it's easy to quit. Getting together with friends and shooting hoops (or any other activity that requires moving around) for an hour after work a couple times a week is a lot easier. So join a league, find a club, launch into a sport you have never done, sign up for a Team in Training event, etc. It's a lot more fun to keep track of your social commitments than a lonely workout, so make your social life movement-oriented.

[dean_mitchell]

This is a great instructable, and I'm glad to see such "commonsense" tactics to health actually being promoted to the public (I'm sick of all the diet pill-fad diet nonsense thats been spreading around these days)! If you liked this I would recommend that you check out the book "Fit for Life: Not Fat for Life" by Harvey Diamond for additional information on this type of subject. Also, to add a bit. I would recommend adding more "negative" calorie foods to ones diet. "Negative" calorie foods are those which your body uses near the same caloric energy to process/digest as the foods contain in calories (Examples: celery, lettuce, bok choy, etc.) These are good to eat if you have troubles with overeating or strong cravings. This is because you can eat large portions without adding many if any calories to your alloted daily intake. WARNING: These are not to be substituted for your normal intake of nutritious foods. "Negative" calorie foods also do not contain much nutritional value (some vitamins, but thats about it). You still need to eat highly nutritional foods, such as most fruits, veggies (wide color range), grains, fats (such as extra virgin olive oil), protein (soy, meat, etc.)... Just my two cents, thanks again for posting this instructable

[dean_mitchell]

Also, I'd like to share a few additional things: A BIG thing that I feel should not be missed is the consumption of Water. Which your body consisting of mostly water and the fact that your bodily functions are based on electric pulses; Water is definitely a key fact for health. However, just like you can over water a plant you can also drink too much water. So a good guide is to just take notice of your urine. If its brightly colored then you are more then likely dehydrated, and if its literally as-clear-as-water then you should lay off the H2o a little.
One more thing, for those looking to get 'Ripped'. Following these guidelines is great for health. But to get that "ripped" look it takes a lot of exercise (mainly cardio at first to lower your body fat). Once you get a low body fat , change your focus to more "weight training" (please note: this doesn't necessarily mean "pumping Iron". I actually recommend body weight exercises. Such as pull ups, push ups, sit ups, knee ups, squats, etc). And eat around .5 - 1 gram of protein per lb you weigh (its a good generic rule). I recommend this to be in a lot a verities - Soy, meat, fish, nuts, some veggies (like spinach...). But keep this in mind: the chewier the protein the more it will raise your metabolism. But also keep in mind that protein tends to be high in calories (to many calories = fat storage = no definition = not getting ripped).

[Nova_Logic]

Thanx froSTed ive been tryin to get ready for Basic Military Training because im plannin to go into the AirForce like my big bro but in the shape im in i doubt i would last 1 week Thanx SOOOOOO much now i can get prepared plus i gotta get a girlfriend lol